BROTHERS CREATE LUXURY GOLF RESORT IN PUERTO RICO

If you go

Rates at the Royal Isabela range from $499 to $1,199 per night depending on time of year, and include one round of golf per person per day. Winter package rate is $1,499 for three days and two nights (Dec. 16 to April 16).
www.royalisabela.com

Trump International: Two courses designed by Tom Kite. Site of the PGA Tour’s Puerto Rican Open. Tee times can be reserved up to 60 days in advance; call (787) 657-2000, ext. 111. Rooms at the nearby Gran Melia, which offers golf packages at Trump International, start at $185;
www.trumpgolfclubpuertorico.com, www.melia.com

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Dorado Beach: The four Robert Trent Jones Sr.-designed courses at Dorado Beach make it the only 72-hole complex in the Caribbean. Rooms at the 115-room Ritz-Carlton Reserve start at $721.
www.doradobeach.com

Rio Mar: 36 holes; George and Tom Fazio-designed Ocean Course, and Greg Norman-designed River Course, on the site of a Wyndham Resort. Rooms start at $155.
www.wyndhamriomar.com

ISABELA, Puerto Rico 
On the surface, rejecting the opportunity to have Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer or Gary Player design your golf course and then building the thing yourself might seem a little imprudent. Hiring any one of golf’s Big Three, Nicklaus especially, has always been a sound investment after all, with green fee revenue, membership dues, and the value of on-site homes and lots all impacted significantly by their involvement.

However, Charlie and Stanley Pasarell, Puerto Rican natives and both former tennis champions, weren’t overly concerned with maximizing their return or marketing their Royal Isabela course as the latest Nicklaus masterpiece that appeared in every one of golf’s top 100 lists. Royal Isabela is the most recent addition to Puerto Rico’s inventory of high-end golf resorts, located on the northwestern coast of the island.

“Prior to Charlie and I taking over full control of the property in 2000, the idea had been to build numerous hotels, condos and homes, and have Nicklaus, Palmer or Player build a championship course,” says Stanley, who is 4½ years Charlie’s junior. “The investment group that had owned the land, and which Charlie managed, had obviously been looking to make the most of it financially, so the resort buildings were the priority. The golf course would have sort of fitted in around them.”

The Pasarells were adamant, however, that was not what they had in mind. “We didn’t want to do it that way,” adds Stanley. “We wanted to honor our native soil by treading lightly and building something truly special. Plus I don’t think Jack (Nicklaus) would have liked considering our ideas, or being told what to do.”

But though the brothers had very specific plans for their course, they didn’t know how to actually build it. For that they needed someone with a proven track record of design and construction, but also someone whose ego would not get in the way of their own. Charlie knew just the man.